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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

As much as my clown from my last post was about shades of gray, these pieces are all about COLOR. I've had a lot of creative ideas floating through my head, but most of the time I wonder what to do with all the leftovers after I finish my creative vision. This was the case with the clay from my Mime Bracelet that I featured in my March Newsletter. I made 3 tiny canes with my scrap - a rainbow zigzag, a
basketweave, and a spiral like the tutorial I shared in my April Newsletter. From the leftovers of these three canes, I also made a Stroppel Cane. These coordinate and can be combined beautifully, but also make beautiful stand alone items, like the bangle bracelet pictured above and the perfume pen to the right. Unfortunately, my experiments with those canes is limited since they were small to begin with, but the results always give me more ideas for future experiments. Plus, the lucky buyer who grabs them from my ETSY shop will have a unique treasure.

Here are a few more fun finds from my ETSY shop using my colorful scrap canes! Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

It's hard sometimes to put into words where your inspiration comes from. As long as I can remember I've been creative - drawing and cutting out my own paper dolls from the moment I could hold a scissors. Every creative moment molds you and one of my pivotal ones was getting a paint by number set with two clowns - one happy, one sad. It was complex and I was very young, but my mom knew I needed the challenge. I was fascinated with the face painting, the expressions, and it began a love affair with the human face and capturing emotions with concepts and design. In starting this latest line of polymer art, I wanted to get back to those ideas that inspired me in my youth.

These earrings are called "Rainy Day at the Circus." They have a translucent sad clown face on a black, gray & white pixeled background. I wanted the gray back drop to represent the gray of the rain in contrast to the bright colors in the clown's nose, hair, and flower. They were my entry in the May PCAGOE challenge - "Artist Inspired." And it's not what you may think, I wasn't inspired by the artist who painted the original painting that paint-by-number from my youth was based upon. When I thought about it, the artists that inspired me were the clowns or more specifically the clown that most of the sad, tramp clowns were based upon - Emmett Kelly or "Weary Willie."
Here are details from the matching cuff bracelet and mini salt and pepper shakers. The 3 matching pieces are for sale in my ETSY shop. Click on the links to find them:

Friday, June 15, 2012

There are a bevy of beautiful butterfly canes out there and just as many instructions on how to make them - from the simple to the complex. Mine is based on the techniques found in my Pansy Cane Tutorial, but can be used with any Skinner Plug or even a rounded Ikat Cane. As always please share anything you create on my Facebook Page! I'd love to see your work, too!

1) You'll need two color coordinated canes to begin with. One that is approximately 3/4" x 6" and another slightly smaller. I used half of the canes that I used to make the Passion Flame Pansy cane that is pictured at the bottom of this blog post.

2) Mix a dark color that coordinates with your cane, but is a shade darker or you can use black. Make a sheet of this to wrap both of your canes.

3) Also make two bullseye canes with white (or light colored) centers and your dark mix from 2. Make the canes with different sized centers.

4) Cut off a 2" section of your larger cane and set it aside. Reduce the cane to 5/8" and cut another 2" section. Reduce again to get 2" sections that are 1/2", 3/8", and 1/4".
5) Reduce your smaller cane to 1/2 and cut off 2 2" sections. Reduce it again to 3/8" and cut off two more 2" sections.

6) Shape your sections of your longer cane into long teardrops and stack them together longest on top to smallest. Place varying sections of both of your bullseye canes along the outer edge.

7) Shape your sections of smaller cane into elongated teardrops and place the longest ones in the center and the shorter ones on the outside. Attach varying sizes of your bullseye canes to the outer edge on this wing parts well.

8) Place your wings together. At this point you can use them as is or reduce them and cut them in half and add a body to the center. Fill as needed with translucent.

9) Enjoy!

Here is the Passion Flame Pansy Cane that was also made from the same canes that I used to create my Butterfly wings! Holler if you have any questions! This tutorial was originally published on my monthly newsletter. You can find the whole newsletter HERE or SUBSCRIBE!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Moving to the Dallas area has been such a blessing for me in so many ways. I have a wonderful man in my life, beautiful children, and I get the chance because of my proximity to Michael's corporate office to try out new class ideas at the store in Southlake, Texas.

I'll have 2 series of Summer Camp classes. One the week of June 11-15 and another the week of July 16-20. The classes will be held from 2-4 pm and are open to ages 13 to adult - younger with an adult in attendance and my approval. I've also had requests for an evening class, so am starting a class Monday evenings from 6-8pm June 11, 18, and 25 and July 16 and 23. If there is enough interest, I plan on extending the Monday night classes into the fall or adding new classes.

The classes are very basic millefiori classes using simple striped cane variations, Skinner blends, and basic shapes. Don't let the samples scare you - these are projects anyone can do and are great projects to share with your kiddo home from school for the summer or take it with a friend!

There are a few general supplies that we use in all the classes, those include the following:
Clay/Pasta Machine - Amaco SKU #039672123816
Clay Tool Kit with a Clay Blade SKU #039672110595
Graduated Rotary Mat - Olfa SKU #091511300145
Wire Cutter
Round Nose Plyers
Clay Roller - Art Minds SKU #400100852521

We use a crimper to make bracelets for several of the projects as well, so picking up a jewelry tool kit that has plyers, cutters, and a crimper can be a good investment - plus the case is nice to keep them organized and handy.

These are fabulously colorful and simple! They are made from a simple block cane of stacked sheets of colored clay that is sliced thin and wrapped around a tube of clay. I'll be teaching how to create your cane, form the beads, and then assemble your earrings. If time allows, I'll demo some other fun uses for your cane - like candy striped tube beads!

Need an elegant, modern bracelet to go with your new outfit? This class shows how to make some very, very simple square beads in your favorite color combinations. I'll show you how to put them together into a simple bracelet with some basic jewlery making techniques.

This is a great class to sink your teeth into! How many schools out there have animal mascots - tigers, lions, bears, dragons, you name it! With a simple striped cane, I'll teach you how to make fabulous claws & fangs that you can coordinate with your school colors for jingling school spirit fun! It's so simple - make one for all your friends!

Doesn't this look hard? Not so! This is a simple application of any petal cane that only takes a steady hand. I'll be teaching how to use a simple Skinner blend to create your unique petal cane that you can then use to make fun filigree flowers!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The June PCAGOE Challenge theme is "Bowls and Vessels." There is some absolutely stunning entries this month, like this fabulous teapot by Berit Hines! Berit does some fabulous work and is a fellow caner. All this month's entries are all definitely worth a look for Father's Day or for a special gift idea. The voting goes through June 7, so don't forget to vote for your chance to win a prize from the generous donations of our members!

This is my entry - the pretty mini salt and pepper shakers that you may recognize from my Butterfly cane tutorial in last month's Newsletter. I've been experimenting with different patterns of flowers and butterflies and ways of using and coordinating left over canes. The two canes for these cute little salt & pepper came from the same basic petal cane from my pansy tutorial. I'll be doing more experimenting - some scrap cane ideas and also I've been looking into writing a comprehensive millefiori book for ipads and iphones using ePub. Now it's time for a few more coordinating colors! Back to the clay table!

Monday, June 4, 2012

It is always exciting to open your email to find a note that says, "You've been featured!" And as a thank you, I'd like to share the Blog featuring me in my newsletter as well. Suzy Myer's Blog is Called Suzy's Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom. She is a fellow Etsy shop owner and sells the most beautiful Ukrainian Eggs there like the one pictured.

June 3 when I checked my email, I got a wonderful surprise - a note on Etsy that I was being featured. Her article the next day was on Millefiori - which is the basic technique behind most of my polymer art. Millefiori means "thousand flowers" and is a term originally associated with italian glass which was shaped into rods or 'canes' to be used in bowls, beads, paperweights, etc. Millefiori is also the term used by polymer artists to describe the wonderful canes the creature that decorate their art. Suzy featured several millefiori artisans - glass & polymer - including myself and my lovely perfume pen made from my rainbow pansy cane. You can check out the entire blog post including the other wonderful featured artists at http://suzyssitcom.com.